#so its not as big as a stigmatization against mental illness but it has plenty of issues

[martyrbat]

okie finished the lets play of arkham city while knitting and. hm..

[butwhatifidothis]

Capn’s fic is the only fic that I’ve read that makes me physically ill. That is a feat because I love horror stories. I’ve watched and read the sickest goriest stuff but it never made me feel bad. It was done to satisfy my curiosity of the bizarre and mysterious darkness presented by the unknown or humanity.

The problem with Capn’s that made it so sickening is its presentation. With horror stories, the evil acts are framed just as that. Evil. There is no sugarcoating even if you are the protagonist. You are wrong and you must be stopped or escaped from. Most of the victims’ perverted, creative, and colorful deaths are not comeuppance but terrible pitiful misfortunes.

Capn’s presentation, and Edelstans’ reception, of the fic sickens me because they make something horrific into a love story. The framing is not of condemnation but adoration. And the adoration is absolute. There is no room allowed for other interpretations or hesitations anywhere in the story. It’s scary. It’s cult-like.

The closest horror I can compare the fic to is, surprisingly, the movie Midsommar. The difference is Midsommar always implies that what is happening is not right and disturbing - the protagonist and the watchers are being indoctrinated into a cult. Capn’s fic never does that and it’s terrifying how many believe him through his sock puppet in the fic - Edelgard.

Lovecraftian stories are pretty close to what he had done but the protagonists there always experience decay in their person. Their flaws are emphasized and never sugarcoated. There is awareness and horror at how far they have fallen with their wretched acts. There’s nothing as such in Capn’s fic.

I’m so sorry for ranting here in a way that barely makes sense. I’m just so upset with what he had done to my fave Dedue. Then there’s the “grand” reveal of his story twist. It’s just too much. Never thought I’d hate an author so much since my tolerance for fuckups is pretty high but here we are.

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No problem about the ranting, I don’t mind!

I’m also a pretty big fan of horror, which is part of why the presentation of the fic is something I focus on a lot. Unreliable Narrator, the idea of the bad guy getting what they want still being portrayed as an explicitly bad thing, fucked up morals and beliefs being portrayed as fucked up, etc. etc., that’s shit I’ve seen plenty of times, and this fic isn’t it. It justifies the protagonist’s terrible actions and casually throws around a lot of bigoted ideas of men, women, those with mental health issues, relationships, race, etc. without ever acknowledging the bigoted nature of the ideas. 

This fic can have a big scary angry uncontrollable POC man get suddenly and brutally murdered by a white woman because he was going to destroy the body of the tiny pure innocent defenseless dictator warmonger white girl within it without ever taking a step back at the scene and going “Hm, maybe I’m using well-known racial stereotyping that has been used against POC men for at minimum multiple decades, maybe I should rework this scene to not have that.” It's never acknowledged.

This fic can have a young man and an older woman with heavily stigmatize mental health issues be violent, unreasonable ticking time bombs that blow up constantly at slight provocations without ever going back and thinking “Hm, maybe this is a very stereotypical and reductionist depiction of people who go through these mental health issues, maybe I should go over my characterization of them again and make sure I write them more respectfully.” This is accepted as the canon personality to many, many people in the fandom in regards to Rhea, and a non-insignificant amount of people in regards to Dimitri. Also Dimitri doesn’t actually have mental illness apparently

That’s just two things! And this is what people find to be an accurate retelling of 3H, when none of this is in there! If this were truly Unreliable Narrator, then Edelgard and Byleth’s POV wouldn’t be taken as objective fact - they’d be far more critically analyzed to make sure that they do indeed match up with what’s actually happening. That’s not what Edelstans are doing though! Edelgard says it, so it must be true - what’s unreliable about that??  They gobble it up and expect everyone else to do the same and get mad when people go “but that didn’t happen tho” and it’s like... cool, glad this is where the fandom’s at

[thebreakfastgenie]

Ok, I finished Tiger King. Time for some thoughts. A brief note, I will be referring to Joe Exotic’s “zoo” as a facility, rather than a zoo, because I refuse to participate in any possible confusion between roadside “zoos” and legitimate zoos. 

I do think Joe Exotic started out caring about animals, but deeply misguided, but he was not caring for his animals. He abused them. Watch how quickly he gets angry when the tiger starts grabbing his shoes. He also became much more motivated by “I can do what I want and no one can tell me no” than by actual love for his animals. He definitely dabbled in some nasty right-wing ideologies. 

He was also pretty clearly abusing Travis and probably John and Dillon. 

Rick seems like an underrated contender for worst person in this documentary until the last five minutes or so when he gains self-awareness and acknowledges his role. 

Jeff Lowe’s role in Joe’s arrest is sketchy as hell but Joe wasn’t framed and deserved to go down. Jeff Lowe should also go down. Jeff Lowe is absolutely a con artist, but he didn’t con Joe out of his facility. Joe frequently put things in other people’s names to dodge legal issues. He willingly signed the zoo over to Jeff to keep it out of his legal issues and expected Jeff to still let him have complete control. 

Joe Exotic’s behavior toward Carole Baskin is really deplorable. The harassment, threats, and violence (the music video, everything with the blow-up doll...). 

I’ve seen some hot takes saying this documentary exploits mental illness and that is absolute nonsense. There is no mental illness that excuses Joe Exotic’s behavior toward Carole or many of the other people who appear and to suggest that further stigmatizes people who are mentally ill and do not behave that way.

I think Doc Antle might be the worst person featured. Fuck that guy. 

I’m 100% certain Joe Exotic blew up his own studio. He was angry with Rick and aware that the only copy of Rick’s footage was in there, plus there was the possibility of that footage being damaging, plus there were things in there he was expected to produce for the lawsuit. Add that it allowed him to play the victim and suggest Carole was the culprit and his absolute obsession with explosives... yeah. 

That one article is nonsense because Saff is not the only non-horrible person featured in the series. There are plenty of others, like Carole and Barbara, the former member of Doc’s cult. Saff is also not innocent. He’s not awful but I don’t condone any of the employees continuing to be involved in Joe’s operation and not reporting the many crimes that were going on. 

Let’s talk about Carole....

Carole Baskin did nothing wrong. One of my big criticisms is the documentary not challenging the Joe Exotic narrative that this was a simple, mutual rivalry. The scene that shows Carole and Howard’s filing cabinets on Joe Exotic, in my opinion, frames it like she was unduly obsessed with him. She had all those files because she was suing him and he filed various counterclaims which generates a ton of paperwork. He was also threatening her. HIS obsession was the reason for all of that. 

I do have some questions about Carole’s sanctuary. I think it’s probably legit, but I would do some research before visiting. I’m concerned about her comment that her sanctuary is just a comfortable place for the tigers to live until they die, but I do think it’s innocent and simply referring to the harm that was done to them by not allowing them to be wild. My main concerns are with how much she has the public inside. Obviously zoos do this, but many sanctuaries have extremely limited visiting, if they’re open to the public at all, which is often because it’s stressful for the abused rescue animals. That being said, it’s possible Carole’s animals are fine with it and it is a good source of funds. 

My biggest issue is that she seems to rely primarily if not entirely on volunteer labor and her volunteers were working some crazy hours. If she has the money to be in court for years she has the money to pay a few employees, which she should do even if people are willing to do it for free. Having volunteers is excellent but I think she relies on them too much. 

Carole absolutely, for certain, did not kill Don Lewis. Don Lewis was involved in organized crime. He was smuggling animals and almost certainly other things as well, drugs and who knows what else. Don got himself whacked by his business partners or customers or suppliers in organized crime. His kids and ex-wife are just mad that they didn’t get his crime money. If there was any evidence against the much-younger wife the cops would have been all over that. She may have altered the power-of-attorney documents, but I’m not convinced of that either. The only evidence we really have is the secretary’s word and I see no reason to trust her. Why would she be power-of-attorney for Carole? Why wouldn’t Don’s wife be power-of-attorney? The “or disappearance” language is weird until you remember Don made a lot of weird comments alluding to the possibility and the “if I pull this off...” I find it perfectly believable he may have included that because he knew his lifestyle might lead to that outcome. 

I do have one criticism of the documentary itself. I understand that it is primarily about this story, not the debate of captive animals, but by focusing on who it focuses on it inevitably gets into that topic. I wish there had been some mention of legitimate zoos. The discussion of “tigers in captivity” does not break down whether any of those are living in AZA accredited zoos like Toledo, Bronx, Brookfield, San Diego, etc. Animal rights activists are often opposed to all zoos. Everyone, including the general public, is often confused about the different between facilities like Joe Exotic’s and legitimate zoos. Zoo is not a regulated term in any way, so anything can call itself a zoo. 

Legitimate zoos do not allow cub petting or any contact with most animals outside veterinary care. Tigers in legitimate zoos live in enclosures as nice as or nicer than Carole’s sanctuary. They are encouraged to continue natural behaviors. Their cubs are not interfered with unless the mother is unwilling or unable to care for them (this did not used to be standard practice but it is now, hand-rearing deprives an animal of much of its natural development). I would have loved to see a little more representation to tiger breeding through legitimate means for the purpose conversation, like the Species Survival Plan. Zoos have not yet been able to release animals like big cats into the wild, but have participate in repopulation efforts by releasing insects and some reptiles like the Kihansi Spray Toad. People like Doc Antle appropriate the language of conservation while actively harming endangered species. 

This topic could honestly be its own post so I’m going to wrap up, but feel free to discuss any of this. #CaroleDidNothingWrong